• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.317-328
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• 2009

Current maintenance operations and integrity checks on a wide array of structures require personnel entry into normally-inaccessible or hazardous areas to perform necessary nondestructive inspections. To gain access for these inspections, structure must be disassembled and removed or personnel must be transported to remote locations. The use of in-situ sensors, coupled with remote interrogation, can be employed to overcome a myriad of inspection impediments stemming from accessibility limitations, complex geometries, the location and depth of hidden damage, and the isolated location of the structure. Furthermore, prevention of unexpected flaw growth and structural failure could be improved if on-board health monitoring systems were used to more regularly assess structural integrity. A research program has been completed to develop and validate Comparative Vacuum Monitoring (CVM) Sensors for surface crack detection. Statistical methods using one-sided tolerance intervals were employed to derive Probability of Detection (POD) levels for a wide array of application scenarios. Multi-year field tests were also conducted to study the deployment and long-term operation of CVM sensors on aircraft. This paper presents the quantitative crack detection capabilities of the CVM sensor, its performance in actual flight environments, and the prospects for structural health monitoring applications on aircraft and other civil structures.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.936-941
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• 2001

The influence of the ${Al_2}{O_3}$ particle size on flaw tolerance of the $ZrO_2/{Al_2}{O_3}$ composites prepared by mixing 5.31 mol% ${Y_2}{O_3}$-4.45 mol% ${Nb_2}{O_5}$-90.31 mol% $ZrO_2$ and ${Al_2}{O_3}$ was investigated. The composites exhibited rising R-curve behavior and plateau fracture toughness of 7.9 and $8.8MPam^{1/2}$ for the additions of 20 vol% of 0.2 and $2.8{\mu}m$ ${Al_2}{O_3}$ particles, respectively. The difference in the fracture toughness resistance was attributed mainly to the grain size of tetragonal $ZrO_2$ phase in the composites, which scaled with the ${Al_2}{O_3}$ particle size.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.775-783
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• 1995

This study is to assess the effects of increasing wall thickness on the safety margin of pressure tube in operating and of lowering initial hydrogen concentration on the DHC growth in respect to the improvement of the reliability of pressure tube in CANDU reactors. The pressure tube with thicker wall of 5.2 mm shows much higher safety margin for flaw tolerance by 25％ than the current 4.2mmm tube. The thicker pressure tubes have a great benefit in LBB assessment including the initial crack depth at which DHC occurs, the crack length at onset of leaking and the available time for action. The resistance for the pressure tube ballooning at LOCA accident is also increased with the thicker tube. The calculations for Heq concentration after 20 years of operation as a function of wall thickness and initial hydrogen concentration show that the 5.2 mm nil thickness tube with 5 ppm initial hydrogen concentration is the most resistant to DHC. with the lower initial hydrogen concentration, TSS temperature for the precipitation or hydride decreases and the crack growth during cooldown reduces.